Shane Black talks more about how he's going to revitalize the Iron Man franchise, plus his plans for the pulp classic Doc Savage. Michael Shannon discusses General Zod's new look. Plus the new Spawn movie has the most unlikely influence imaginable!

Spoilers avast...

Top image from Man of Steel.

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The Dark Knight Rises

The latest batch of set videos shows a strange device on set, which certainly doesn't look particularly pleasant. Set reports have described it as "Bane's earthquake machine." It's not clear how the set reporters came across that particular description, and it's entirely possible that's a bit of speculation or elaboration, but some sort of device exists, and the set photos show the Batwing hovering over it. The set reporter suggests a lot of what was shot will be augmented with CGI, which makes it even more difficult to interpret what's going on here.

The same source also describes a scene featuring our first glimpse of Michael Modine's character, who appears to be involved with law enforcement in some way. Here's the description:

They started early and were shooting Stock Exchange Employees coming out of the Stock Exchange Building with their hands up as if they were being held up, then something happens and they dive to either side in a panic and Bane Mercs on Motorcycles come barreling down the steps with hostages on their backs and down the street into an alley. They later would shoot the Bane Mercs going down an alley. Modine was there the entire time and when the Exchange workers come out he's first in line then when they jump out the way he looks shocked (like what the hell?!) when the mercs drive past he, JGL and a host of cops are shooting at them. Modine was definitely in charge of the police force. He had a gun and a walkie talkie at some points. They shot some scenes with a cop car screeching to halt and someone coming out but, we couldn't see who.

Here's a few set videos from the New York filming. [IGN and SpoilerTV]

Man of Steel

New Superman Henry Cavill explains how he's preparing for the role, and his hopes to leave his own mark on the character:

I have made a concerted effort to focus purely on the source material, which is the comic. I personally believe to focus too much on other people's interpretation of the source material is going to detract from my performance and my interpretation. It's a wonderful opportunity and there is so much material there. And there is such a wealth of… ways he is represented across all the comics. That it's a deep well to choose from.

Daily, I'm learning more. Because as I'm experiencing it, as I'm performing…I'm…As you say, if you were to look at George Reeves, and Christopher Reeve and all that. I'm doing bits myself and therefore learning more about the character. Because hopefully if I do my job right, I'll be remembered and maybe fifteen years in the future someone will be saying Henry Cavill when the next chap is playing Superman.

So, in case this is a big revelation, Henry Cavill doesn't think he will be playing Superman fifteen years from now. [Comic Book Movie]

Michael Shannon says his General Zod won't be sporting the big "flowy costume" favored by Terence Stamp in Superman II, saying that "everything is skintight" now. That said, he admits he's not totally sure what his finished costume looks like:

There's two different modes. There's something that I have to wear a motion-capture suit for, because if I actually wore it, I wouldn't be able to move. It's a very big…thing. I actually don't know what it's going to look like, I just know that it's very cumbersome. There's another thing that I wear that's an actual costume. It's pretty simple. There's no paisley or anything.

You don't get to wear a flowing cape or anything like that?
I don't know. That's the thing about these movies. I could have an elephant head.

Iron Man 3

Director Shane Black discusses the realistic tone he's shooting for with this film, which he hopes will return to the strengths of the original movie:

If you look at the first "Iron Man," the events of the story feels like the crossover between what's in a comic book and what's in real life. There's always been the tendency to make Iron Man the real-world superhero who deals with things a bit more rooted in geopolitical reality and then have comic book elements added. What's interesting to me about the first movie, and to some extent the second movie, is the character. If you're really paying attention to the story, the more people care about the character, the more people will care about the outcome, I think.

He also explains why he doesn't think the famous "Demon in a Bottle" story, in which Tony Stark descends into full-blown alcoholism, should be used as the basis for a movie:

"No, because if we go there — it's part of Tony's character, but I think the 'Demon In A Bottle' aspect, if you go there, you really have to go there. The film then becomes about that, because the journey that involves recovering from alcoholism is an entire movie. I mean, I want to keep it dark and interesting and edgy and spicy and all those things, but I don't think we want to go as far as to deal with Tony's descent into alcoholic madness. That's maybe not where we want to be."

Here's a few more highlights from Shane Black's panel at Long Beach Comic Con. Black does say there will be references to the Avengers, though as reported yesterday there won't be actual appearances. He also mentioned his distaste for green screen as an unnecessary challenge to actors, "because picturing a non-existent set can make for flat performances." He also said a big focus of his movie will be "realism and the potential for evil in all men." [Comic Book Movie]

300: Battle of Artemisia

300 producers Mark Canton and Gianni Nunnari says the project is now a "work-in-progress", as opposed to where it stood a year ago when it was just something they wanted to do. Canton commented on the screenplay:

"We have to say that Zack Snyder and Kurt Johnstad, his writing partner, have killed it. They've done a tremendous job making a highly intelligent, epic story that will stand on its own. But it's not a conventional sequel and, for what we do, that's what you hope and pray for. That you can be original and authentic at the same time."

When asked about a Gerard Butler cameo, Canton reportedly smiled and gave this cryptic hint: "It's too early to say, but we know the answer." [Superhero Hype]

Doc Savage

Shane Black is also directing and co-writing a film adaptation of the classic pulp action hero. Here's how he explains his approach:

If we do "Doc Savage," the challenge is make it adult. I think that there are so few practitioners of action movies these days who are doing worthwhile stuff that it behooves me to try to weigh in and try to do the "Raiders Of The Lost Ark"-type stuff, to try to recapture the magic. When I stood in line for a summer movie when I was coming up at eighteen, nineteen, twenty years old, I stood in line for two and a half, three hours and you got the goods! They delivered! And if they didn't, you went outside and said, "Arg, 'Indiana Jones 2' wasn't that good, I stood in line for three hours!" Now, you don't know what you're getting! There's just, I think, a decrease in the quality of these types of comic book action movies, and so it's almost irresistible, sometimes, to try and shore that up a little, or weigh in at least with my opinion about what's wrong and how it should be.

He also said it's not the next project he wants to do - he'd prefer to make a smaller film along the lines of Winter's Bone - but "the script is still evolving... I want to get it right and I want to do it." [Comic Book Resources]

Immortals

Here are a ton of cast interviews, which you can watch by clicking on the gallery on the left.

Untitled Sci-Fi Action Movie

Eagle Eye writer John Glenn has reportedly been hired to work on this as yet untitled sci-fi action movie described as "Die Hard on a spaceship", which was originally written by Snake on a Plane's Jon Heffernan. [Variety]

Spawn

Todd MacFarlane suggests an unlikely comparison point for his planned new Spawn movie:

It's like the movie "The Departed" except there's a boogey man in it. It won't be a "superhero movie". It'll be sort of a suspense/thriller/drama. The only thing in the movie that will be out of the ordinary will be the "boogey man" that You and I know as "Spawn". So, it's not going to be "Spawn vs. a demon vs. Clown", they're not going to do any of that. Think about it as "The Grudge". There's only one thing in that movie the "boogey man" in that house, everything else in that is real in that movie so it's like that. It's more of a story movie.

Tomb Raider

In case you were wondering, Olivia Wilde confirms that she is not the new Lara Croft. [@OliviaWilde]

Fringe

Here's the description of episode seven, "Wallflower":

TIME IS A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH - When a man mysteriously dies by an invisible force, his body rapidly begins turning ghostly white. The Fringe team learns that this is not an isolated incident, and there's evidence that links the predator to someone who passed away with an unknown genetic disorder. Meanwhile, Olivia suffers from migraines.

Game of Thrones

Part of season two will reportedly be shot at Vatnajökull, the largest glacier in Iceland. The production team is currently looking for men and women to be extras, preferably those who are agile and bearded... the second of which is probably more of a requirement for the men than the women. [Winter Is Coming]

The Walking Dead

Chuck

The Matrix star Carrie-Anne Moss discusses her role as Gertrude Verbanski, the head of a rival spy organization and old, semi-romantic rival of John Casey:

"It's a love interest with some dysfunction. They have a history together and she's using using her connections and powers to get close to him. They're a match made in heaven... It's been fun to play this tough woman with underlying passion for Casey... For The Matrix, I really trained to do those fights and here we learn it in 10 minutes. I have one fight with Casey that's funny and more of a courting kind of thing.

She also says the episode features some Matrix references, but she's not directly involved in them because she "didn't want to play Trinity 10 years later." You can see some promo photos from her appearance in the gallery on the left. [EW]

Once Upon a Time

American Horror Story

FX has renewed the show for a second season. I can't even imagine the levels of batshit insanity this show will reach by the end of two seasons. [SpoilerTV]

Speaking of which, star Dylan McDermott added another layer to the bonkers mystery that is Rubber Man by revealing, ""I've had to put on the rubber suit a few times myself." [TV Line]

Smallville

Bet you never thought you'd see this who in here again, huh? (I certainly thought - nay, hoped - I'd never have to include it again.) But the unkillable beast that is Smallville might really, truly be unkillable after all, as an IMDB page has been set up for a new project called Metropolis, with Tom Welling, Erica Durance, Aaron Ashmore (Jimmy Olsen...both of them), and Michael McKean (Perry White) all listed in the cast. So...that's a thing that might be happening. More likely, of course, this is total crap, and there's absolutely nothing to this at all. It just seems like my civic duty to keep you informed of stuff like this. [Thanks to David for the tip!]